The U.S. military has formally ended its mission in Iraq. At a ceremony in Baghdad, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta watched as American troops lowered their command’s flag, marking an end to the nearly nine-year war that drove out Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein. It was a solemn, low-key ceremony outside a terminal at Baghdad’s airport [...]
Tag: leon panetta
December 16, 2011
December 15, 2011
US flag ceremony ends war in Iraq
15 December 2011 Last updated at 13:48 GMT Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. US Defences Secretary, Leon Panetta: “To all of the men and women in uniform today your nation is deeply indebted to you.” The flag of American forces in Iraq has been lowered in Baghdad, bringing nearly nine years [...]
December 15, 2011
Terror suspect defence law passes
15 December 2011 Last updated at 02:26 GMT FBI Director Robert Mueller said it was not clear how the provision would impact law enforcement agencies The US House of Representatives has passed a defence bill likely to change the way the US detains terror suspects. The bill passed after the White House lifted a veto [...]
December 15, 2011
Panetta: Troops’ Sacrifices ‘Paying Off’ in Afghanistan
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told American troops in eastern Afghanistan the United States is winning the 10-year-old war against extremists in the country. Panetta flew to a remote U.S. Military base to present valor award medals to soldiers and offer reassurances the troops are making what he called significant progress in the war against [...]
December 14, 2011
Panetta in Afghanistan, Calls 2011 a ‘Turning Point’
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is on a surprise visit to Afghanistan, where he says 2011 will mark a turning point in the 10-year-old war. U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta arrived in Kabul for a visit with troops and a first-hand assessment from the man who commands them, General John Allen. Speaking on his [...]
December 3, 2011
Netanyahu spokesman: Palestinians to blame for deadlock
A spokesman for Israel‘s prime minister has said the Palestinian leadership is to blame for the deadlock in peace talks, a day after the US defence secretary asserted that Israel was not doing enough to renew negotiations. Mark Regev, a spokesman for Binyamin Netanyahu, said Israel remains ready for the resumption of peace talks without [...]
December 3, 2011
December 3, 2011
US urges Israel to end isolation in Middle East
US defence secretary Leon Panetta has urged Israel to “reach out and mend fences” with Turkey, Egypt and other security partners in the Middle East, saying he is troubled by the Jewish state’s growing isolation in the volatile region. In a speech at a Brookings Institution forum in Washington, Panetta said that while Israel is [...]
November 27, 2011
Nato air attack on Pakistani troops was self-defence, says senior western official
An attack by Nato aircraft on Pakistani troops that allegedly killed as many as 28 soldiers and looks set to further poison relations between the US and Pakistan was an act of self-defence, a senior western official has claimed. According to the Kabul-based official, a joint US-Afghan force operating in the mountainous Afghan frontier province [...]
November 27, 2011
Pakistan to Reexamine Relations with US After Deadly NATO Raid
Pakistan says it is reviewing its relations with the United States and NATO in the aftermath of a predawn cross-border airstrike Saturday on two military outposts in the country’s northwest which killed at least 26 Pakistani soldiers and wounded 14 others. Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and top military and government leaders discussed the [...]
November 16, 2011
Obama Australia visit begins
Barack Obama has arrived in Australia on a visit that will be dominated by the announcement of a greater American military presence in the country as a counterbalance to China. Obama arrived in Canberra, the Australian capital, on Wednesday afternoon on board Air Force One. The US president will stay for a day and a [...]
November 15, 2011
Dire warnings from Pentagon over potential defense cuts
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Defense Secretary Leon Panetta turned up the heat on Congress Monday, warning that looming automatic budget cuts would undermine national security and set off a financial chain reaction from the hallways of the Pentagon, to the battlefields of Afghanistan, to civilian assembly lines. The Pentagon already is digesting $450 billion of reductions [...]
November 11, 2011
Leon Panetta warns against Iran strike
Military action against Iran could have “unintended consequences” in the region, the US defence secretary, Leon Panetta, said on Thursday, hours after Tehran warned that an attack against its nuclear sites would be met with “iron fists”. Panetta, who took over the Pentagon’s top job in July, said he agreed with the assessment of his [...]